GUERNSEY were unable to put the icing on their ICC World Cricket League Six cake yesterday. Having achieved the main objective of gaining promotion to Division Five thanks to their semi-final win over Norway on Friday, they could not add the trophy to their successful season as they suffered a six-wicket defeat to Suriname at the Essex County Ground in Chelmsford. However, national coach Nic Pothas was not too downbeat as he reflected on an excellent season for his young side. ‘If in January when we started out you had told us that we would have a good T20 tournament in May, win the inter-insular and get promoted to Division Five, we would have bitten your hand off for that,’ he said. ‘We have played some very good cricket this year, there have been some very good individual performances across the board and there is no doubt we are getting better and better all the time. ‘I am certainly very proud of this bunch of lads and I am very excited to see what they can do in future.’

In yesterday’s final, both Nightingale brothers made half centuries for Guernsey, but the team were bowled out for 237, which Pothas described as ‘a good 40 runs short’ of what they wanted. At the start of the reply, captain Jamie Nussbaumer struck in the first over, but in his second he suffered a side strain and was unable to bowl again in the innings. The rest of the attack did not meet the high standards they had set earlier in the week, which had included a victory over Suriname in the group stage, and on this occasion they failed to exert any pressure on the batsmen. In the end, Suriname won with more than four overs to spare. ‘We did not play very well today and got what we deserved,’ said Pothas. ‘We just did not execute and we made errors in all three disciplines of the game. We were probably at 50%, at best, in all three disciplines, but that’s the nature of the sport – you play cricket on grass, not on a piece of paper.’

‘Favourite’s tag still does not sit well’ by Gareth Le Prevost

THE tag of favourites is one this young Guernsey outfit need to get used to. They went into yesterday’s final at the County Ground in Chelmsford yesterday having beaten all-comers during the week, including their opponents Suriname, but the Sarnians were well below par with the trophy at stake. Importantly, of course, promotion had already been secured and with the ultimate aim being to turn this young group into a ‘solid Division Four’ team, according to Nic Pothas, the defeat is another part of the learning curve. ‘The important thing is that we can look at the tournament and say we got promoted, but also it’s what we have learnt about what we need to do to get better: said the coach. ‘This defeat is not a skill thing, because we have the skills as we have shown, it’s more mental than anything. ‘I do not think we are very good front-runners at the moment. ‘When our backs are against the wall, we play very well and that’s a great trait to have – this group have an immeasurable amount of fight – but having watched us over the last three years, we are probably at our worst when expected to win.’

After being inserted on a decent deck with a short boundary towards the pavilion yesterday, Guernsey’s total of 237 was short of what was required to really test the Suriname batting line-up. A total much nearer 300 looked on the cards after the excellent start given to them by Matt Stokes and new opening partner Ollie Nightingale, who put on 68 for the first wicket. Stokes had looked good once again for his 33, but surprisingly he did not capitalise and Ollie Newey quickly followed him back to the pavilion after being given out caught behind to off-spinner Gav Singh, a decision which bemused the batsman. However, that was nothing compared to the key moment in the 25th over when Tiro Ravenscroft, having made 17 from 21 balls in decent style, was given out stumped. The ball had ricocheted off Ravenscroft as he advanced down the track and it took a while for keeper Hirlal to gather it off theground down the leg-side, by which time it looked for all money that the batsman had made his ground on the spin.

But the square-leg umpire’s finger was, after some deliberation, raised slowly, much to the derision of the Guernsey team on their balcony, who were directly in line with the incident. Nightingale was joined at the crease by his younger brother Tom and both were to make fine half-centuries, but for a long spell in the middle overs the boundaries dried up. Ben Ferbrache provided some impetus after he replaced Ollie Nightingale, who was stumped for 59 from 98 balls having hit five fours and a six in his first half century at this level.

Wickets began tumbling with regularity in the last five overs, but Guernsey also managed to up their run rate with some aggressive running and some well timed strokes, none more so than Jamie Nussbaumer’s massive six out of the ground over long on. The younger Nightingale brother finished as top scorer with 65, his maiden half century in WCL. Guernsey knew, though, that they needed early wickets in the Suriname reply and the skipper came up with the goods in the first over as Jason Martin held onto a low catch off Shazam Ramjohn. But then the Greens were dealt a huge blow as Nussbaumer suffered a side strain at the end of his second over and his side had lost one of their major weapons against opponents who looked very uncomfortable against pace. Will Fazakerley emphasised that as he sent danger man Muneshwar Patandin’s stumps cartwheeling, but the left-handed opener had just taken four successive boundaries off Ollie Newey at the other end and Suriname were now well ahead of the required rate. Guernsey had difficulty in finding their lengths throughout the afternoon and although Fazakerley struck again to remove Wasim Haslim, Suriname captain Mohindra Boodram and man-of- the-match Singh.

Guernsey’s Tournament Stats:

Guernsey were highest scorers with 313-3 against Botswana and 3rd highest with 287-7 against Fiji, 7th against Suriname with 239 and 8th against Suriname with 237. They recorded the two highest victories with a 188 run win against Fiji and 151 run win against Botswana.

Matt Stokes was leading run scorer with 241 at an average of 60.3, Ollie Newey was 3rd with 210 at 52.5, Ben Ferbrache was 6th with 178 runs at 44.5 and Tim Ravenscroft was 8th with 174 at 34.8.

Guernsey had the two highest innings scores in Matt Stokes witj 135* and Ollie Newey with 129*. Matt Stokes came third in the batting averages with his 60.3

Tim Ravenscroft came first in strike rate with 124 and Ben Ferbrache was 4th with 108.

Most 6s in an innings were scored by Ben Ferbrache with 5 against Botswana and he was 2nd in boundaries scored in an innings with 6x4s and 5x6s in his 54 against Botswana.

Ollie Newey and Tim Ravenscroft were 3rd in partnerships with 109 and Ben Ferbrache alongside Dave Hooper were 6th with 58.

Having dominated the batting stats the bowling stats were not as good. Tim Ravenscroft was 6th with 8 wickets, Dave Hooper 7th with 7 and Max Ellis 8th with 7. The best bowling was Tim Ravenscroft at 7th with 8-3-21-4

Jason Martin was 3rd in wicketkeeping victims with 5 catches and 1 stumping.

The team were pretty good in the field claiming the first three places. Matt Stokes came first in the catching department with 5, closely followed by Jamie Nussbaumer and Tim Ravenscroft with 4.

If World Cricket League continues Guernsey will be joined by Jersey, Oman, Tanzania, Nigeria and Suriname in WCL 5 in 2016.

THE legitimacy of Suriname’s success in last month’s ICC World Cricket League Division Six has been challenged. Throughout the Essex-based event, there were rumours aplenty as to the eligibility of several players in the team who won the title by beating Guernsey in the final. Those rumours originated from the South American nation itself after local politician and publicist Radjen Kisoensingh had launched a strong attack on the team selection describing it as comprising ‘three Surinamers and 11 Guyanese’ in the Star News.

At the time, board chairman Raj Narain shrugged off the allegations, accusing Kisoensingh and other critics of damaging the country’s reputation, while in Essex the ICC officials said that all the necessary paperwork had passed muster. Now,though, it has been reported that a dossier has been submitted to the ICC’s head of legal, raising serious doubts about the eligibility of at least six key members of the Surinamese squad. They include star all-rounders Muneshwar Patandin, who scored a century against Guernsey ‘in the group stage before taking five wickets in the semi-final victory over Vanuatu that clinched promotion for Suriname, and Gavin Singh, who was man of the match in the final and also player of the tournament. Overall, the half-a-dozen players identified contributed more than two-thirds of the team’s runs and all bar two of the 46 wickets they took at the tournament. ‘We were made aware of potential issues with Suriname player eligibility from various external sources while in Essex for ICC WCL6 and indeed were approached by Suriname officials when we met in the group game enquiring whether we had been contacted by anyone and what had they said,’ Guernsey Cricket Board chief executive Mark Latter said. ‘Other competing countries were already making noises with ICC about the subject and we were” content to let them take the matter on. Subsequently these countries have submitted greater detail of the issues to ICC, which we have seen. ‘Again we are happy to let them push the matter and are equally happy to let ICC determine the outcome. ‘At the GCB we are committed to upholding the rules of the game and the spirit of cricket and trust all others would concur and do the same. ‘We have no issue with losing to Suriname on the pitch in the final as they were the better team on the day. We would be happy to right that result in future competition provided we have the confidence that we are playing on equal terms.’